A Mayo man’s herculean test of endurance

For those who know the world of Hyrox – a soaring global fitness trend – what James Carty is doing next Sunday in attempting to do five Hyrox events back to back in one day in Crossmolina seems like a hybrid of insanity and inspiration. For those who don’t know much about Hyrox, let me try to fill you in just how challenging Carty’s quest is.

Hyrox is a fitness craze founded in Germany that has exploded in popularity in recent years where participants have to undertake a combination of running and a variety of functional workouts. Finishing one is considered a fine achievement for mere mortals so five in one day is a herculean undertaking.

A Hyrox race or event sees participants run 8km in total but after each kilometre, a specific exercise has to be carried out.

So competitors will run for a kilometre; do 1,000 metres on a ski erg (pulling down two pulleys in a skiing technique); run another 1km; push a 152kg sled for 50 metres; run one km; a 50 metre 103kg sled pull; run for one km; 80 metres of burpee broad jumps (most people’s kryptonite!); run for one km; 1,000 metres on a rowing machine; run for one km; a 200-metre long farmer’s carry with a 24kg kettlebell in each arm; run for one km; 100 metres of lunges with a 20kg sandbag; run for one km; and push a 6kg wall ball skyward to a 10-foot high target no less than 100 times.

You’d be tired just reading that. Imagine finishing one of them and then preparing for four more on the same day? Well, that’s what James Carty is doing. If he finishes all of that from his base at the North West Fitness Academy in Crossmolina, Carty will have run a full marathon as well as the extremely demanding series of functional exercises five times over.

It is all in aid of Down Syndrome Mayo, a cause so close to the heart of the 46-year-old Knock native who now lives in Crossmolina with his wife Ciara and children Ivy, Emlyn and Iris.

James is the chairperson of Down Syndrome Mayo which supports and advocates for over 140 members. He and Ciara’s third child, Iris, was born in 2021 with Down Syndrome. He is fundraising for the Mayo branch of Down Syndrome Ireland but above and beyond all of that, he wants to raise awareness of Down Syndrome and change people’s perspectives.

He vividly recalls when Ciara and he were in hospital in Dublin a few weeks before Iris was born and told the news Iris would have Down Syndrome. What strikes him most looking back is how limiting the perspective of the medical professionals was.

“The focus was on how ‘the child won’t achieve this etc’. Iris is a living embodiment of the opposite of that. She hit so many milestones ahead of what we were told. We were told not to set our sights high but all of a sudden this girl before her second birthday was walking, running shortly after that, jumping, living life like any child.

“There’s no difference between her and any other child. She is going to playschool, she is playing football, she is climbing trees, she’s a proper daredevil.

“I want to bring awareness to people not to put people with Down Syndrome in boxes, not to categorise them, not to say they cannot achieve things because these people with Down Syndrome can achieve so much in life,” Carty told the Western People.

He has seen that with his own child but also through the Down Syndrome community in Mayo, people he has learned so much from.

“From a personal point of view, I would have thought I was empathetic pre-Iris and I learned very quickly after having Iris and meeting families with children with Down Syndrome and meeting people with Down Syndrome, both adults and children, that I wasn’t as empathetic as I thought. I learned an awful lot from working with people with Down Syndrome, from sitting down and talking to them, people who brought home medals from Special Olympics. The joy they have. It is a wonderful community and I feel honoured to be part of it.

“You see businesses now that are giving people with Down Syndrome employment opportunities. If you talk to people who have given them employment opportunities, they will tell you how much joy they bring to their workforce and how much they’ve improved the morale.

“I would urge people when they see someone with Down Syndrome, not to view them as a person with Down Syndrome but to view them as a person and to give them those opportunities to progress in life,” he added.

Carty, a former Aghamore footballer who is a Garda sergeant in Bangor-Erris, has plenty of experience of pushing himself to the limit. He ran five marathons in five days in 2012 for the Tania McCabe Foundation and did a four-mile run every four hours for 48 hours in 2021 after Iris was born.

He first got into Hyrox in 2023 and has completed events in Dublin, Glasgow, Warsaw, Amsterdam and Malaga but nothing close to this.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of challenging myself doing them. They’re hard but they’re achievable. I enjoy showing a good example to my own kids, showing them anything is achievable if they put their minds to it,” he said.

His training for the event is tapering off by now with Carty having undertaken an average of 12 to 15 hours a week training for the event. That’s a fair chunk of time considering both himself and Ciara are working and trying to juggle family life, various kids’ activities and family confirmations and communions.

Along the way, he has been ‘blown away’ by the support received from the Hyrox community.

Kirk Taylor from Donegal is coming down to do an incredible 100km on the ski erg to help raise money on the day, another Hyrox friend of Carty’s, Ibar Conway from Waterford, fresh from competing in a Hyrox event in Bangkok, is flying back and heading straight to Crossmolina to participate in one of the five legs.

Members of M Fitness in Belmullet and Evolve Fitness in Ballybofey, Co Donegal are coming to take part and support while Grid Fitness and Ciarán Quinn Fitness, both in Westport, are hosting their own Hyrox events on the day, all in aid of Down Syndrome Mayo.

“One of the real highlights has been meeting people through the Hyrox community and them all jumping in to support this event,” said Carty.

He is particularly fulsome in his praise for Ciarán Sweeney and Brian Fitzpatrick, the owners of the North West Fitness Academy, for the gym community they have created and for all their backing.

“I couldn’t speak highly enough about the boys,” he said.

Carty plans to get underway at 8am and is seeking to start each of the five stages in two-hour intervals (10am, midday, 2pm and 4pm), finishing up at approximately 6pm with short breaks in between for nutrition and changing.

Completing a Hyrox in 90 minutes is considered a very good achievement so pacing for one every two hours is a daunting task but Carty is no stranger to hard challenges.

All are welcome on the day to support him in this incredible undertaking. Keep up to date with his progress before, during and after by checking out his Instagram page @AverageHyroxer – he may need to change the name after this far-from-average undertaking!

To donate to James’s efforts and support Down Syndrome Mayo, go to www.idonate.ie and search for 'James Carty'.